Wamda

How to reduce cash-on-delivery in Middle East e-commerce

At a roundtable hosted by PayPal last week, representatives from some of the region’s biggest e-commerce players gathered to discuss the r...

cash-on-delivery Payment Gateways E-commerce

Startup news ticker: Baidu partners with Silicon-based Cooliris to boost mobile penetration

Welcome to Wamda's weekly startup news ticker, which will offer quick announcements and stories relevant to the region. If you have a quick...

ticker

Weekly Wrap-Up: September 22-26

If you had the chance to exit, would you sell your startup to a competitor? From the inception of the idea, to switching gears when nearing...

Weekly Wrap-Up

Flat6Labs Cairo graduates six new startups and celebrates its second birthday

Cairo accelerator Flat6Labs held its 6th Demo Day yesterday, where we were treated to the now customary mix of startup stands...

Flat6Labs Accelerators

How e-commerce site Kahenas overcame local challenges to sell stunning Moroccan designs

Preserving national heritage is a concern for many cultures today, as globalization causes the production and consumption of similar items...

Art E-commerce

Global

If you had the chance to exit, would you sell your startup to a competitor?

Entrepreneurs are passionate by nature. They work hard to make their ideas come to life, and harder to make them survive. In a tough...

Poll Results Music Daily Deals

How Lebanese recipe portal Shahiya is empowering women in Saudi Arabia and abroad

Since we last checked in, Shahiya, the Beirut-based community recipe board, has made some serious strides. The site has grown to over...

expat cooking Saudi Arabia

Gulf consumers optimistic about their economies; Levant uncertain [Report]

Despite the prevalence of intense conflict in Syria and Egypt, consumers in the Arab world are feeling more optimistic about regional...

Report

Borrowing $1 billion a day? A look at debt in Saudi Arabia

A surprising headline recently caught our eye: Arabian Business suggested that Saudi consumers are borrowing almost US $1 billion per...

Statistics Loans Banks

India's largest IT company outsources to women in Saudi Arabia

Forget outsourcing to India. India’s largest IT company is now planning to outsource to Saudi Arabia, debuting its first “all-female ser...

Employment Saudi Arabia Government

Morocco's FollowLetter: an alternative to Google Reader for newsletter lovers?

Trying to collect and read news during the day is often an essential part of work, and yet it can also be massively distracting; an email,...

Task management Slow-reading Media

What Mashrou' Leila's crowdfunding success means for the Arab music scene

Last month, 543 fans of the Lebanese indie rock band Mashrou' Leila gave a combined total of over $66,000 USD to fund the release of the...

U.A.E

A look at the winners of the 2013 Gulf Business Industry Awards

Gulf Business, a leading news portal in the Middle East, hosted their annual Gulf Business Industry Awards last night,...

Free zones Gulf Business Industry Awards Awards

What did startups learn at Astrolabs' recent workshop in Amman?

After their first Scaling Online Startups (SOS) workshop in Dubai this past May, and subsequent workshops in Riyadh and Beirut,...

Astrolabs Workshops Marketing

Addy raises $320K in Silicon Valley, launches address system for Middle East e-commerce

When we last checked in with Addy last summer, the startup was generating buzz after debuting at Stanford’s StartX Demo Day for its...

Addressing Mobile E-commerce

Meet the 6 social startups joining virtual incubator i2i from across Pakistan

[Note:this photo is of i2i's first class of startups, which graduated this January]. When Plan9 began incubating its first class of...

Incubator Support Organizations Accelerators

Can new media site Beacon create good revenue streams for longform journalists?

Beacon, billing itself as a new kind of media outlet, launched last week to considerable fanfare. The site works on a subscription...

revenue streams Citizen Journalism

PayPal Insights e-commerce report reveals trends in mobile, travel in the Middle East

The idea that mobile is the future of e-commerce isn’t new, but it may surprise some to learn that shoppers in the Gulf already p...

Mobile Penetration Travel Mobile

6 people entrepreneurs should look for at a networking event

Dubai is an unusual place. The startup scene is small but growing rapidly, the majority of people are expats, and there are dozens...

Algerian and Egyptian startups help travelers sell products from abroad; is this model scalable?

The Arab world is no stranger to luggage that's filled to almost bursting. Many travelers return from trips abroad with kilos of purchases...

collaborative economy Sharing Economy Shipping

Can e-commerce site Cazamoda overcome the challenges of family business?

Jordan

Thought Leadership